Card game and method for playing a card game

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a card game and a method of playing a card game, more particularly the invention relates to a novel deck of cards for use in playing the card game, where the deck of cards may be a physical deck of cards distributed between players of the game, or alternatively as a virtual deck of cards in an electronic format for playing the game in an electronic version of the game, such as a computer game, video game, electronic game, mobile app, or the like, which is used for playing the game.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a card game and a method of playing a card game, more particularly the invention relates to a novel deck of cards for use in playing a card game, where the deck of cards may be a physical deck of cards distributed between players of the game, or alternatively as a virtual deck of cards in an electronic format for playing the game in an electronic version of the game, such as a computer game, video game, electronic game, mobile app, or the like, which is used for playing the game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cards and cards games have been around for centuries. Card games may be enjoyed by a single person, or many people playing against each other, or even in teams of players playing against other teams, depending on the nature of the card game.

Many card games are based on the modern deck of playing cards providing the basis on which games are created. Playing cards, typically divided into four suites, and including thirteen cards in each suit—provide the starting point to invent any card game wherein each card may be ascribed a particular value or role in the inventor's new game.

Common examples of card games familiar with most people include games such as poker and blackjack. These are typical betting games popularized by movies and mass societal influences. Other card games include rummy, gin and even solitaire (possible to be played by just one player). The commonality through all these games being the use of the same set of playing cards, the same four suites having the same thirteen cards in each.

With the dawn of the electronic age it has further become possible to enjoy these (and other) card games with people from any part of the world. Players, who are not physically present with other players, may connect through electronic devices to join and play these games with, or against, one another.

Additionally, there exist card games which require a novel deck of cards. These types of games are generally created in unison with the novel deck of cards used for playing the game. The cards themselves may have different suits, colours, images, numbers or even pictures for facilitating the type of game to be played.

Although these novel decks of cards are created for the novel game to be played, they themselves may also be used in the creation of further different card games not perceived by the original creator. Just like the modern deck of cards a novel deck of cards will provide a starting point from which each card may be ascribed a particular value or role, and thus provide the base for a new game altogether.

The present inventor has chosen to share a novel deck of cards and a new card game, to be played using said cards, which game is educational, strategic and fun for the players. It is the inventor's hope that the card game, and the novel deck of cards, whether played with a physical deck of the cards in the company of other players, or through electronic devices with the use of an electronic deck of the novel cards in an electronic format, will be enjoyed by those who play it, and that from the created structure of the game and scoring methods, provide the basis for a new wave of local and international competitions for players to compete and challenge one another.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the current invention to provide a novel deck of cards and a method of playing a card game using said cards, which game is both educational, fun, strategic and competitive. Further for the game to be played either in person with a physical deck of cards, or remotely using electronic devices and an electronic version of the novel deck of cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided a method of playing a card game involving two or more players, the method which includes;

-   -   providing a deck of 120 cards, each card having a face and a         value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of         39 cards each and three wild cards; wherein each suit comprises         thirty-six alphabet cards having an individual letter of an         alphabet and a numerical value respectively and three power         cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of         play or letter blank card, and one penalty card;     -   providing each player a number of cards from the deck to begin         the game;     -   providing a single card from the deck face up on a playing         surface in view of all the players as the plateau card, and         providing a draw pile of the remaining cards in the deck, placed         face down on the playing surface;     -   initiating play by each player, in turn, matching one of their         provided cards with the colour suit or the letter of the plateau         card forming in-play cards, or the player picking up a card from         the draw pile of cards;     -   play continuing by each player, in turn, adding cards to the         in-play cards to form a word spelt by the letters on each card,         or by matching a card to a suit of the in-play cards, or picking         up a card from the draw pile;     -   withdrawing in-play cards of a spelt word by the player         responsible for playing the card required to complete the spelt         word;     -   providing a score to said player by tallying up the total         numeric value of the withdrawn cards;     -   play continuing until one of the players achieves a         predetermined score to win the game;     -   wherein play is then terminated and the numeric value of cards         held with a remaining player are tallied to count against said         remaining player's score.

The invention provides further for the deck of cards to be physical cards.

The invention provides further for the game to be played through an electronic medium; further for the electronic medium to be a computer program, a video game console, a mobile application, or any other electronic medium.

The invention provides further for the game to be playable over the internet in one or more forms of the electronic medium.

The invention provides further for the numerical value of each of the alphabet cards of the three suits to be selected according to the frequency of use of the letter in an alphabet; further for the numerical value to be lower when the frequency of the letter is higher; further still for the numerical value to be higher when the frequency of the letter is lower.

The invention provides further for at least each letter of an alphabet to form at least one card of the alphabet cards; further for duplicate alphabet cards to be made up of high frequency letters.

The invention provides further for the wild card to allow a player to change the suit of cards being played on the playing surface; further for the penalty card to require the recipient player to draw additional cards from the draw pile upon presentation of the card by a player; further still for the reverse order of play card or the letter blank card to change the direction of play when presented by a player or to provide a substitute for any alphabet card of a suit when played by a player; further still for the skip-a-turn card to require the recipient player to forego their opportunity to play upon presentation of the card by a player.

The invention provides further for the wild cards to be ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, further for the wild cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game.

The invention provides further for the power cards to be ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, further for the power cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a novel deck of cards for playing a card game; the deck comprising 120 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 39 cards each and 3 wild cards; wherein each suit comprises thirty-six alphabet cards having an individual letter of an alphabet and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card.

In accordance with an additional embodiment of the invention there is provided a method of playing a card game involving two or more players, the method which includes;

-   -   providing a deck of 180 cards, each card having a face and a         value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of         59 cards each and three wild cards; wherein each suit comprises         fifty-six chemical cards having an individual element of the         periodic table and a numerical value respectively and three         power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order         of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card;     -   providing each player a number of cards from the deck to begin         the game;     -   providing a single card from the deck face up on a playing         surface in view of all the players as the plateau card, and         providing a draw pile of the remaining cards in the deck, placed         face down on the playing surface;     -   initiating play by each player, in turn, matching one of their         provided cards with the colour suit or the element of the         plateau card forming in-play cards, or the player picking up a         card from the draw pile of cards;     -   play continuing by each player, in turn, adding cards to the         in-play cards to form a chemical compound by the element on each         card, or by matching a card to a suit of the in-play cards, or         picking up a card from the draw pile;     -   withdrawing in-play cards of a chemical compound by the player         responsible for playing the card required to complete the         chemical compound;     -   providing a score to said player by tallying up the total         numeric value of the withdrawn cards;     -   play continuing until one of the players achieves a         predetermined score to win the game;     -   wherein play is then terminated and the numeric value of cards         held with a remaining player are tallied to count against said         remaining player's score.

In accordance with an additional embodiment of the invention there is provided a novel deck of cards for playing a card game; the deck comprising 180 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 59 cards each and 3 wild cards; wherein each suit comprises fifty-six chemical cards having an individual element of the periodic table and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the invention will become more apparent by the following description of the embodiment, which is made by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1: shows a portion of the cards which make up the novel deck of cards;

FIG. 2: shows a further portion of the cards which make up the novel deck of cards of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3: shows an example of the arrangement of cards during game play of the card game using the deck of cards of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4: shows Table 1, which sets out the distribution of cards in the deck of cards and the ascribed value of each;

FIG. 5: shows a portion of the cards which make up the novel deck of cards according to a further embodiment;

FIG. 6: shows a further portion of the cards which make up the novel deck of cards of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7: shows Table 2, which sets out the distribution of cards in the deck of cards and the ascribed values of each in accordance with the further embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In order to fairly and sufficiently describe the current invention the description will set out the nature of a novel deck of cards and a card game, including a method for playing a card game, for which the novel deck of cards has been invented.

What follows is a description of the novel deck of cards.

Referring to FIG. 1 which shows playing cards 10 which make up a portion of the novel deck of cards 12.

Each of the cards 10 include a face 14 and a reverse side 16. The reverse side may include any design which may be applied to all of the cards. The design may be such that the cards, when viewed from the perspective of an opposing player or players, become indistinguishable from one another.

The novel deck of cards 12 comprises one hundred and twenty cards 10 in total. The deck is divided into one hundred and seventeen suited cards, representatively shown by numeral 18 and three wild cards, representatively shown by numeral 20.

The suited cards 18 are divided into three suits, 18A, 18B and 18C respectively. In this embodiment of the invention the suits are separated by assigning a different colour to each suit, particularly suit 18A is yellow, suit 18B is purple and suit 18C is blue. The approach chosen to separate the suits may vary from different embodiments of the cards 10. It is important, however, that whichever method is chosen to differentiate the suits is a method chosen to be clear to separate the suits. Identifying the different suits from one another will form an integral part of the game play (discussed in greater detail below).

Each suit, 18A, 18B and 18C, includes thirty-six alphabet cards 24, each having an individual letter of an alphabet and a numerical value 26 ascribed thereto, across the face 14, and three power cards 22.

The numerical value 26 which is ascribed to each of the alphabet cards 24 will depend on the particular letter appearing on the face 14 of that card 10 and the frequency of that letter used in that language. Therefore, if a letter is used frequently in the language in which the game is being played, so the numerical value ascribed will be relatively lower. Conversely, the less frequently the letter appears in the language, the higher the numerical value will be.

The numerical values range from one, ascribed to the more frequently used letters, up to five, ascribed to the less frequently used letters.

As the card game and the method of playing a card game of the present invention may be played in many languages and in many countries around the world, it is perceived that the language of the cards 10, may differ from one deck of cards 12 to the next deck of cards. Additionally, a deck of cards in one country may be in different languages, say for example where a country has more than one commonly spoken, or official, language. Therefore, one version of the invention may include letters of the German alphabet for playing the game in the German language. Simultaneously, the same invention may include cards in English or Spanish or Korean, for playing the game in these languages. It is clear that the invention and the inventive concept of the cards or card game is not limited to one particular language.

The particular language chosen for the purpose of this description is English, and the English alphabet which contains twenty-six letters.

Commonly used letters in English include the letters, A, E, I and O. These frequently used letters are thus ascribed the numerical value 26 of one. Less common letters, such as Q and Z will be ascribed a value of five. An even distribution of value relative to the frequency of a letter will be ascribed to the remaining letters of the alphabet.

Each suit 18 will contain at least one letter from the alphabet. The letter will appear of the face 14 of the card 10, and will include its value 26 according to the letter's frequency in the alphabet. Any additional cards, i.e. cards required to take the number of cards 10 in a suit to the thirty-six alphabet cards 24 number, will be made up from the most frequently used letters in that alphabet. Therefore, English contains twenty-six letters in the alphabet. The additional cards required (in this instance an additional ten cards) will be made up of the frequently used letters, i.e. those letters which would be ascribed a value 26 of one, with the most frequently used letter in the language being repeated when an even distribution of the letters of the additional cards is not possible.

Referring now to FIG. 2. Each suit 18, further comprises of the three, suited, power cards 22. The power cards include a ‘skip-a-turn’ card 22A, a ‘reverse-order-of-play or letter blank’ card 22B and a ‘penalty’ card 22C.

The power cards 22 will include a distinctive device 28 across the face 14 of the card. The device will be such that the type of power card is easily identifiable from the other power cards and from the alphabet cards 24.

During game play, presentation of a power card 22 will result in the player next in turn to follow the command of said power card.

Each power card will include a value 26 ascribed to it. The value ascribed to a power card will be five. The manner in which a power card value is scored will differ from the manner in which an alphabet card's 24 value will be scored. This will be discussed in greater detail below.

The three wild cards 20 do not include a suit designation, and as such may be played across any one of the suits 18.

In the current embodiment, the wild cards are separated from the suited cards 18 by assigning a colour which is not the same as the colours chosen for suits 18A, 18B or 18C. Therefore, the wild cards in this embodiment are assigned the colour grey. The approach chosen to separate the wild cards may vary from different embodiments.

Additionally, the wild cards will include a device 30 across their face 14. This device will be the same for each of the wild cards.

What follows is a description of the card game, for which the novel deck of cards 12 has been invented.

The card game, for which protection is sought, relates to a fun, strategic and educational game where players are required to build words, using the letters on the cards 24. The players must build words by; combining the letters on the face 14 of the alphabet cards 24, with letters on other cards 24 which are in play on a playing surface 32, or; matching the suits 18 of the cards 24 when building the words. The aim of the game being the first player to spell the most words to accumulate a score quickest so as to achieve a predetermined score.

Players play in turn. A player will have the option to pick up a card from the deck of cards 12 or place a card 10. Placing a card will involve either; combining the alphabet card 24 as described above; matching the suits 18 of the cards; playing a wild card 20; or, playing a power card 22.

Players who build, or complete, a word on the surface 32 receive points for the use of each of the alphabet cards 24 used in building or completing that word. The points are the tallied amount of the values 26 of the respective cards. The cards 24 used in building or completing the word are removed from the playing surface 32 and either held by the player or fed back into the deck of cards 12.

Play continues until one of the players achieves a predetermined score, i.e. the accumulation of the values 26 for each word equal or exceed the predetermined score. This player will be deemed the ‘winner’, and play will stop. The remaining players then have the value 26 of remaining cards 10, which they hold when play stops, tallied and deducted from their score.

What follows is a preferred method of playing a card game, using the novel deck of cards 12.

In order to initiate game play, players will arrange themselves around a playing surface 32. The game requires that 2 to 4 players play against one another, however this could also include 2 to 4 teams consisting of multiple players. Including more players, or teams, is not limited—but may require the use of additional decks of cards 12. In the description which follows reference to player and/or players is intended to include teams of players as well.

The playing surface may be a physical surface used to support the cards 10 and on which the cards may be placed. The playing surface may also be a virtual surface generated through an electronic medium, such as a computer program, video game console, mobile application or any other electronic medium, when the card game is being played through the electronic medium. In the latter example the cards 10 would be virtual and generated through the electronic medium as well. Reference in this description to playing surfaces, and cards or deck of cards or any other elements discussed in playing the card game include both the physical embodiment of the invention, and an electronic version, as discussed.

The players are preferably arranged so as to keep the face 14 of the cards 10 which they receive obscured from opposing players.

The novel deck of cards 12 is shuffled face 14 down. Each player will then be dealt a number of cards, face down, which only they will be able to see.

The cards 10 which remain after dealing to all of the players will form the draw pile 34, placed face down on the playing surface 32. The top card of the draw pile will be placed face 14 up on the playing surface. The top card would preferably be one of the alphabet cards 24. If the top card is not one of the alphabet cards, and is say—a wild card or a power card—this card will be placed at the bottom of the draw pile and a new top card selected. The top card is selected until an alphabet card is reached. This card will become the plateau card 36. The card game may now begin.

The player to the right of the dealer will then start the card game.

This player will have to combine an alphabet card 24 from their dealt cards with the plateau card to begin building a word. This is done by placing the selected card on the playing surface 32 adjacent the plateau card. A card placed on the playing surface in furtherance of the game is deemed to be ‘placed’.

If the player has no letters which may be the basis for building a word from the plateau card 36, the player may place a card 10 which matches the suit 18 of the plateau card.

If, the player cannot place an alphabet card 24—i.e. the player cannot combine the letter of an alphabet card 24 nor can they match the suit 18 of the plateau card 36—the player will then draw an additional card 10 from the draw pile 34. Play will then pass on to the next player in turn. (The player may still have the option to play a wild card 20 or a power card 22, discussed below).

If, however, the player was able to place a card 10, that card will add to the plateau card 36 to form plateau cards 38, and play will pass to the next player in turn.

Play will proceed as it is passed from player to player.

When placing a card 10, players must position the card adjacent to the plateau card 36 or plateau cards 38, as the case may be, at a free (unencumbered) end of the card. This results in the plateau cards forming a chain-like structure with each card forming a link, which grows outwardly from the plateau card. Multiple chains may grow outwardly from the plateau cards 36 and 38. The last card in a chain is referred to as the peripheral card 40. The designation of ‘peripheral card’ will then pass to the next card placed at the free end of the previous peripheral card.

A situation where one card 10 is placed directly on top of, or above, a plateau card 36 or 38 is not permitted.

A player may at any point during the card game, and while it is that player's turn to play, place a wild card 20, or place a power card 22—provided the power card's suit 18 matches the suit 18 of the plateau card 36 or 38, or peripheral card 40.

A wild card 20 does not belong to any of the three suits 18A, 18B or 18C and thus may be placed without matching the suit of the plateau card or cards, 36 or 38. The player who places the wild card may then select the suit to be played. Only the suit chosen by the player may be placed adjacent to the wild card at that location. (The wild card is preferably left on the playing surface 32 as the peripheral card 40 to remind players of the suit change at that location.)

Each suit 18A, 18B and 18C will include three power cards 22 each, which power cards match the respective suit 18. This means that a power card may only be placed by matching the suit of the plateau card 36 or 38, or peripheral card 40.

Each power card 22 will affect the game play of the next player in turn.

The skip-a-turn card 22A will result in the player who is to follow the player which placed the card to miss their turn. Play will then pass to the next player in order. If there happen to be only 2 players when the skip-a-turn card is played, then the player who placed the card will have the opportunity to play again. Once the skip-a-turn card has been placed and a player's turn has been skipped the card is withdrawn from the playing surface 32 and either held by the person who placed the card, or returned to the bottom of the draw pile 34.

The ‘reverse-order-of-play or letter blank’ card 22B will result in the direction of play to be reversed, if the person placing the card so chooses. Therefore, if play was proceeding with each player playing off the player to their left, the direction would be changed and the player in turn would play off the player to their right. If there happen to be only 2 players when the reverse-order-of-play or letter blank card is played, then the player who placed the card will have the opportunity to play again. Once the ‘reverse-order-of-play or letter blank’ card has been placed and play has been reversed the card is withdrawn from the playing surface 32 and either held by the person who placed the card, or returned to the bottom of the draw pile 34.

Alternatively, ‘reverse-order-of-play or letter blank’ card 22B may be placed as a blank to represent any letter of the alphabet. The player who places card 22B may designate the card to be any letter of the alphabet and may use the card in combining letters to build a word. In this instance, the power card 22B will remain in play and will not be withdrawn. The card will also not be ascribed a value 26.

The ‘penalty’ card 22C will require the player next in turn to draw three cards 10 from the draw pile 34. The player who was required to draw the three additional cards will then additionally be skipped in the order of play. Thus the ‘penalty’ card can be seen as a double power card 22, as the player next in turn must skip their turn and draw three cards. If there happen to be only 2 players when the penalty card is played, then the player who placed the card will have the opportunity to play again. Once the penalty card has been placed and the player has drawn the additional cards, and skipped their turn, the card is withdrawn from the playing surface 32 and either held by the person who placed the card, or returned to the bottom of the draw pile 34.

What follows is an explanation on how to score in the card game, how the predetermined score affects the game and how a player may win the game, or round of game play.

Scoring in the game is a combination of the number of words spelt and the length of the words spelt by a player, claiming the word.

Players, in turn, place alphabet cards 24 adjacent to plateau cards 36 or 38 to combine letters to build words. A player who is responsible for placing the card which is the last letter of the word being built may ‘claim’ that word. When a player claims a word, the cards used in spelling the word are withdrawn from the playing surface and held by the claiming player.

Each of the alphabet cards 24 has a numerical value 26 ascribed to it. The claiming player will tally the values of each of the alphabet cards which formed the claimed word. This tallied amount is then kept as the player's score.

The cards may then be retained by the player or returned to the bottom of the draw pile 34.

Play will then continue. Players will then continue playing and building and claiming words. Each time a word is claimed, the game play will pause while the cards are removed from the surface 32, and tallied to form the player's score. The player's score will then be added to that player's overall score, and then play will continue.

Once a player's overall score reaches the predetermined score that player is deemed to be the winner of the game, or that round, and game play is stopped.

The remaining players will tally the value 26 of the cards 10 which they are left with at the time of game play stopping to determine their losing scores. The player with the highest losing score will be the worst placed. The player with the next highest score will be the second worst placed, and so on.

When tallying up the values 26 after game play has stopped, a player will ascribe a value of five to a wild card 20 or a power card 22. This value, however, will only be applicable when tallying up a losing score. A winner will not score the wild cards or power cards they may hold when game play is stopped.

The card game may be played as a single round, as described, wherein a new round is started each time a player wins, and the overall scores are not recorded.

The card game does provide for a version of the game wherein multiple rounds are played. When this is the case, a player's overall score from previous rounds is recorded and retained.

Players will then continually add winning scores to their overall score, or subtract their losing score from their overall score. Players may then decide on their own terms as to when game play will officially stop. This could be, for example, after playing ten rounds of the game, or fifteen rounds of the game, or if a player's overall score reaches an overall predetermined score, independent from the predetermined score played per round.

If multiple rounds are played as described, scoring will be modified slightly.

In multiple round version of game play, the winning player will be entitled to tally the cards they have remaining when they win the round. This tally may then be added to their overall score. However, winner players will ascribe no value to wild cards 20 or power cards 22 when tallying up their remaining cards.

The predetermined score, or overall predetermined score if playing multiple rounds, may be any number chosen by the players. An example of predetermined scores may be a score of one-hundred to win a round and an overall score of one-thousand to win the game.

What follows are examples of game play, when playing the card game using the novel deck of cards 12 of the invention.

The novel deck of cards 12 for the purpose of this description is given in English. The values 26 ascribed to each of the alphabet cards 24 are in accordance with the description above. The use of English as the language for description is not deemed to be limiting and is used for illustrative purposes only.

The novel deck of cards 12 is made up of the following cards 10, including suits 18 and values 26.

TABLE 1 Cards 10 in the novel deck of cards 12 Yellow Suit Purple Suit Blue Suit (18A) (18B) (18C) Alphabet Alphabet Alphabet Card (24)/ Card (24)/ Card (24)/ Value Card (10) Value (26) Card (10) Value (26) Card (10) (26) T 1 T 1 T 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 A 1 A 1 A 1 S 1 S 1 S 1 E 1 E 1 E 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 H 2 H 2 H 2 D 2 D 2 D 2 L 2 L 2 L 2 U 3 U 3 U 3 W 3 W 3 W 3 C 3 C 3 C 3 F 3 F 3 F 3 G 3 G 3 G 3 M 3 M 3 M 3 B 4 B 4 B 4 P 4 P 4 P 4 Y 4 Y 4 Y 4 V 4 V 4 V 4 K 4 K 4 K 4 R 5 R 5 R 5 Z 5 Z 5 Z 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 J 5 J 5 J 5 Q 5 Q 5 Q 5 T 1 T 1 T 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 A 1 A 1 A 1 S 1 S 1 S 1 E 1 E 1 E 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 A 1 A 1 A 1 E 1 E 1 E 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 Skip-A-Turn 5 Skip-A-Turn 5 Skip-A-Turn 5 (22A) (22A) (22A) Reverse- 5 Reverse- 5 Reverse- 5 Order-of- Order-of- Order-of- Play/Letter Play/Letter Play/Letter Blank Blank Blank (22B) (22B) (22B) Penalty 5 Penalty 5 Penalty 5 (22C) (22C) (22C) Non-suited cards Wild Card (20) Wild Card (20) Wild Card (20)

Example 1

2 players playing a single round of the card game.

Player A and Player B are each dealt nine cards 10 from the shuffled deck of cards 12.

Player A receives the following cards 10;

Suit 18A (Yellow)—B, Y and J;

Suit 18B (Purple)—D, A and Skip-A-Turn;

Suit 18C (Blue)—E and O; and

Wild card 20.

Player B receives the following cards;

Suit 18A (Yellow)—G, D and M;

Suit 18B (Purple)—O, L and Penalty; and

Suit 18C (Blue)—D, L and E.

A plateau card 36 is placed face 14 up on the playing surface 32; Suit 18B (Purple)—A.

The cards 10 remaining in the deck 12 are placed on the playing surface 32 as the draw pile 34.

The players had previously decided that Player A will start. Play will automatically switch between players once a card has been placed, or picked up from the draw pile 34, unless there is a wild card 20 or power card 22 placed. If a wild card or power card is placed the order of play may differ, this will be dealt with as and when it may arise.

Play commences;

Player A places Purple D to the top of the plateau card 36;

Player B places Purple O to the left of the plateau card;

Player A places Purple Skip-A-Turn on the playing surface; Player B is refrained from playing and Player A withdraws the Skip-A-Turn;

Player A places Yellow Y to the bottom of the plateau card;

Player A claims the word—D.A.Y;

play is paused while Player A withdraws the cards and tallies the values 26 of each card;

Player A receives a score of 7—tallied as follows; D=2 plus A=1 plus Y=4, therefore total=7.

Purple O becomes the plateau card;

Play resumes;

Player B cannot play and draws a card from the draw pile, Player B receives a Blue P;

Player A places purple A to the top of the plateau card;

Player B places Purple L to the right of Purple A;

Player A chose not to play and draws a card from the draw pile, Player A receives a Yellow P;

Player B places Purple Penalty card on the playing surface; Player A is refrained from playing and draws three cards from the draw pile, Player A receives Blue M, Yellow S and Blue T; Player A additionally skips a turn, Player B withdraws the Penalty;

Player B cannot play and draws a card from the draw pile, Player B receives a Purple B;

Player A places a wild card to the left of Purple A, Player A chooses suit Yellow across the adjacent cards;

Player B places Purple B to the bottom of Purple O;

Player A places Yellow P to the left of wild card;

Player B places Yellow M to the right of Purple L (now Yellow L);

Player B claims the word—P.A.L.M;

Play is paused while Player B withdraws the cards and tallies the values of 26 of each card;

Player B receives a score of 10—tallied as follows; P=4 plus A=1 plus L=2 plus M=3, therefore total=10.

Purple B to the bottom of Purple O become plateau cards 38;

play resumes.

In this example, the players had previously agreed upon a predetermined score of one-hundred. Therefore, play will continue as described above until either Player A or Player B accumulate an overall score of one-hundred. The first player to achieve, or exceed, the predetermined overall score will be deemed the winner. Once a winner has been decided the game will stop.

Here the players have played a single round of the game and the overall scores will not be recorded. Thus, the players may then start afresh by reshuffling the deck of cards 12 and dealing cards 10 to each player. Each player then begins with a score of zero.

Example 2

3 players playing multiple rounds of the card game.

In this example, the players have agreed to play multiple rounds of the card game.

Specifically, the players have agreed that the player who scores one-hundred points will win a round, and the first player to reach one-thousand points will win the game.

Player A, Player B and Player C are each dealt nine cards 10 from the shuffled deck of cards 12.

Player A receives the following cards 10;

Suit 18A (Yellow)—Q and A;

Suit 18B (Purple)—M, F and Reverse order of play/Letter Blank;

Suit 18C (Blue)—T, A, E and P

Player B receives the following cards;

Suit 18A (Yellow)—V, W and R;

Suit 18B (Purple)—C, E and T; and

Suit 18C (Blue)—A, I and B.

Player C receives the following cards;

Suit 18A (Yellow)—A, N and E;

Suit 18B (Purple)—L, R and A; and

Suit 18C (Blue)—F, Skip a turn and Penalty.

A plateau card 36 is placed face 14 up on the playing surface 32;

Suit 18C (Blue)—E.

The cards 10 remaining in the deck 12 are placed on the playing surface 32 as the draw pile 34.

The players had previously decided that Player A will start. Play will automatically move to the right as play commences once a card has been placed, or picked up from the draw pile 34, unless there is a wild card 20 or power card 22 placed. If a wild card or power card is placed the order of play may differ, this will be dealt with as and when it may arise.

Play of round one commences;

Player A places Blue P to the left of Plateau card;

Player B places Blue A to the right of Plateau card;

Player C places Purple L to the right of Blue L;

Player C claims the word—P.E.A.L;

Play is paused while Player C withdraws the cards and tallies the value 26 of each card;

Player C receives a score of 8—tallied as follows; P=4 plus E=1 plus A=1 plus L=2, therefore total=8.

A new plateau card is drawn from the draw pile 34; Suit 18A (Yellow)—O

Play resumes;

Player A places Yellow A to the top of plateau card;

Player B places Yellow W to the left of Yellow A;

Player C chooses not to play and draws a card from the draw pile, Player C receives a Purple E;

Player A places Blue A to the top of Yellow A;

Player B places Blue E to the right of Blue A;

Player C places Blue Skip-A-Turn on the playing surface 32; Player A is refrained from playing and Player C withdraws the Skip-A-Turn, play passes to Player B;

Player B places Yellow R to right of plateau card (Yellow O);

Player B claims word—O.R;

Play is paused while Player B withdraws the cards and tallies the value 26 of each card;

Player B receives a score of 6—tallied as follows; O=1 plus R=5, therefore total=6.

Play resumes;

Player C places Purple E to the top of Blue E;

Player A places Purple Reverse order of play on playing surface; Player B is refrained from playing and Player A withdraws Reverse order of play;

Player C places Blue Penalty card on playing surface: Player B is refrained from playing and draws three cards from the draw pile, Player B receives; Wild card, Yellow E and Purple B; Player B additionally skips a turn, Player C withdraws the Penalty;

Player A places Purple M to left of Purple E;

Player A claims word—M.E;

Play is paused while Player A withdraws the cards and tallies the value 26 of each card;

Player A receives a score of 4—tallied as follows; M=3 plus E=1, therefore total=4.

Play resumes.

At this point in the game;

Player A has a score of 4;

Player B has a score of 6; and

Player C has a score of 8.

Play continues in the above fashion with players building and claiming words. The score for each word are tallied and accumulated toward the predetermined score of one-hundred.

To advance the description play has proceeded in this fashion until such point as;

Player A has a score of 97;

Player B has a score of 94; and

Player C has a score of 99.

The conclusion of the round is imminent with each of the players being decidedly close to attaining the predetermined score.

In this description, Player A claims a word and receives a score of 5.

Player A has achieved an overall score of 102. Game play is stopped and Player A is deemed the winner of that round.

Each player will now tally the value 26 of the cards 10 which they still hold at the time game play was stopped.

Player A had the following cards remaining; Yellow Q, W, A and Skip-A-Turn; Purple F and Blue T and B. Player A receives a score of 17—tallied as follows; Q=5 plus W=3 plus A=1 plus F=3 plus T=1 plus B=4, therefore total=17. Player A had a Skip-A-Turn card, but has won the round, therefore the power card will not count in favour of the score. Player A now has an overall score of 119, tallied as the winning score of 102 plus the reaming score of 17.

Player B had the following cards remaining; Yellow E, and V; Purple B, C, E and T; and Blue I and a Wild Card. Player B receives a score of 20—tallied as follows; E=1 plus V=4 plus C=3 plus E=1 plus T=1 plus B=4 plus I=1 plus wild card=5, therefore total=20. Player A had a Wild Card and did not win the round, therefore the wild card will count against Player B. Player B now has an overall score of 74, tallied as the score of 94 when play stopped less the reaming score of 20.

Player C had the following cards remaining; Yellow E, A and N; Purple R and A; and Blue E and F. Player C receives a score of 13—tallied as follows; E=1 plus A=1 plus N=1 plus R=5 plus A=1 plus E=4 plus F=3, therefore total=13. Player C had no Wild Cards or Power Cards the total remains at 13. Player C now has an overall score of 86, tallied as the score of 99 when play stopped less the reaming score of 13.

After the first round and tallying up all the scores the players are divided as follows;

Player A has a score of 119;

Player B has a score of 74; and

Player C has a score of 86.

These scores will now remain separate as the second round commences. Each player will begin the second round with zero points, and the round will be played, as discussed above, until one of the players achieves or exceeds the predetermined score of one hundred.

Once a player achieves the predetermined score, play will be stopped and the scores for that round will be tallied, in the same fashion discussed.

The scores from the second round, will then be added to the scores from the first round. The players will thus receive a new overall score.

The overall scores of each round will be accumulated until such point as one of the players reaches the overall predetermined score of one-thousand. At this point the game will end and the player will be named as the winner. Second, third and subsequent placings will take places accordingly to the remaining players scores relative to one another.

In accordance with the invention there exists a further embodiment of the novel deck of cards 112 for playing a card game. The inventive concept, and nature and scope of the further embodiment, remains the same.

Reference numerals used previously are repeated for use in describing similar elements.

In terms of the further embodiment, the deck of cards replaces the alphabet on the alphabet cards 24 with chemical cards 124, each having an element of the periodic table and a numerical value 126 ascribed thereto. As shown in FIG. 5.

The deck 112 is made up of one hundred and eighty cards 110 in total. The deck is divided into one hundred and seventy-seven suited cards 118 and three wild cards, representatively shown by numeral 120. The deck further includes three suits 118 separated by assigning a colour to each suit, or any other distinguishing means.

Each suit 118 includes fifty-nine chemical cards, each having an individual element of the periodic table and a value 126 ascribed thereto, across the face 114 of the card, and three power cards 122.

Much like the above, the numerical value 126 which is ascribed to each of the chemical cards 124 will depend on the element appearing on the face 114 of that card 110 and the frequency of that element used in chemical compounds. Therefore, if an element is present frequently in compounds, so the numerical value ascribed will be relatively lower.

Conversely, the less frequently the element appears in forming compounds, the higher the numerical value will be.

The numerical values range from one, ascribed to the more frequently present elements, up to five, ascribed to the less frequently used elements.

Each suit further comprises of the three, suited, power cards 122. The power cards include a ‘skip-a-turn’ card 122A, a ‘reverse-order-of-play or letter blank’ card 122B and a ‘penalty’ card 122C. These cards will function and operate in terms of game play in the same fashion as discussed above. Therefore, the three wild cards 120 do not include a suit designation, and as such may be played across any one of the suits 118. As shown in FIG. 6.

The novel deck of cards 112 in accordance with the further embodiment is made up of the following cards 110, including suits 118 and values 126.

TABLE 2 Cards 110 in the novel deck of cards 112 Yellow Suit Purple Suit Blue Suit (118A) (118B) (118C) Chemical Chemical Chemical Card (124)/ Card (124)/ Value Card (124)/ Value Card (110) Value (126) Card (110) (126) Card (110) (126) H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 Na 4 Na 4 Na 4 Mg 4 Mg 4 Mg 4 K 4 K 4 K 4 Ca 4 Ca 4 Ca 4 P 4 P 4 P 4 S 4 S 4 S 4 Cl 4 Cl 4 Cl 4 V 5 V 5 V 5 Mn 5 Mn 5 Mn 5 Fe 5 Fe 5 Fe 5 Co 5 Co 5 Co 5 Nl 5 Nl 5 Nl 5 Cu 5 Cu 5 Cu 5 Zn 5 Zn 5 Zn 5 Si 5 Si 5 Si 5 As 5 As 5 As 5 Se 5 Se 5 Se 5 I 5 I 5 I 5 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 H 1 H 1 H 1 O 1 O 1 O 1 Skip-A-Turn 5 Skip-A-Turn 5 Skip-A-Turn 5 (122A) (122A) (122A) Reverse- 5 Reverse- 5 Reverse- 5 Order-of- Order-of- Order-of- Play/Letter Play/Letter Play/Letter Blank Blank Blank (122B) (122B) (122B) Penalty 5 Penalty 5 Penalty 5 (122C) (122C) (122C) Non-suited cards Wild Card (120) Wild Card (120) Wild Card (120)

The present invention is described above with reference to a preferred embodiment of the card game and the novel deck of cards. It is perceived that variations of game play may exist when applying the use of the novel deck of cards and deviating from the preferred embodiment described above. It is accepted that those involved in the game play of the card game, and those who use the novel deck of cards will recognize that changes and modifications may be made in the described embodiment without departing from the nature and scope of the present invention. In so far as the modification and variations do not depart from the spirit of the invention, they are intended to be included within the scope hereof. 

1. A method of playing a card game involving two or more players, the method which includes; providing a deck of 120 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 39 cards each and three wild cards; wherein each suit comprises thirty-six alphabet cards having an individual letter of an alphabet and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card; proving each player a number of cards from the deck to begin the game; providing a single card from the deck face up on a playing surface in view of all the players as the plateau card, and providing a draw pile of the remaining cards in the deck, placed face down on the playing surface; initiating play by each player, in turn, matching one of their provided cards with the colour suit or the letter of the plateau card forming in-play cards, or the player picking up a card from the draw pile of cards; play continuing by each player, in turn, adding cards to the in-play cards to form a word spelt by the letters on each card, or by matching a card to a suit of the in-play cards, or picking up a card from the draw pile; withdrawing in-play cards of a spelt word by the player responsible for playing the card required to complete the spelt word; providing a score to said player by tallying up the total numeric value of the withdrawn cards; play continuing until one of the players achieves a predetermined score to win the game; wherein play is then terminated and the numeric value of cards held with a remaining player are tallied to count against said remaining player's score.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least each letter of an alphabet is at least one card of the alphabet cards; and/or wherein the numerical value of each of the alphabet cards of the three suits are selected according to the frequency of use of the letter in an alphabet; such that the numerical value is lower when the frequency of the letter is higher; and such that the numerical value is higher when the frequency of the letter is lower; and/or wherein duplicate alphabet cards are made up of high frequency letters.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the wild cards are ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, and for the wild cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game; and/or wherein the power cards are ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, and for the power cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the deck of cards are physical cards.
 5. The method of claim 1 including playing the card game through an electronic medium, wherein the electronic medium includes; a computer program, a video game console, a mobile application, or any other electronic medium; and/or playing the game over the internet in one or more forms of the electronic medium.
 6. A novel deck of cards for playing a card game; the deck comprising 120 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 39 cards each and 3 wild cards; wherein each suit comprises thirty-six alphabet cards having an individual letter of an alphabet and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card.
 7. The deck of cards as claimed in claim 6 wherein the deck of cards are physical cards.
 8. The deck of cards as claimed in claim 6 wherein the deck of cards are an electronic medium, wherein the electronic medium includes; a computer program, a video game console, a mobile application, or any other electronic medium; and/or wherein the electronic medium includes playing the game over the internet in one or more forms of the electronic medium.
 9. A method of playing a card game involving two or more players, the method which includes; providing a deck of 180 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 59 cards each and three wild cards; wherein each suit comprises fifty-six chemical cards having an individual element of the periodic table and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card; proving each player a number of cards from the deck to begin the game; providing a single card from the deck face up on a playing surface in view of all the players as the plateau card, and providing a draw pile of the remaining cards in the deck, placed face down on the playing surface; initiating play by each player, in turn, matching one of their provided cards with the colour suit or the element of the plateau card forming in-play cards, or the player picking up a card from the draw pile of cards; play continuing by each player, in turn, adding cards to the in-play cards to form a chemical compound by the elements on each card, or by matching a card to a suit of the in-play cards, or picking up a card from the draw pile; withdrawing in-play cards of a chemical by the player responsible for playing the card required to complete the chemical; providing a score to said player by tallying up the total numeric value of the withdrawn cards; play continuing until one of the players achieves a predetermined score to win the game; wherein play is then terminated and the numeric value of cards held with a remaining player are tallied to count against said remaining player's score.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the numerical value of each of the chemical cards of the three suits are selected according to the frequency of that element present in chemical compounds; such that the numerical value is lower when the frequency of the element is higher; and such that the numerical value is higher when the frequency of the element is lower; and/or wherein for duplicate chemical cards are made up of high frequency elements.
 11. The method of claim 9 wherein the wild cards are ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, and for the wild cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game; and/or wherein the power cards are ascribed a value of 5 if held by a player once the game has terminated, and for the power cards to be ascribed no value if held by a player achieving a predetermined score to win the game.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the deck of cards are physical cards.
 13. The method of claim 9 including playing the card game through an electronic medium, wherein the electronic medium includes; a computer program, a video game console, a mobile application, or any other electronic medium; and/or playing the game over the internet in one or more forms of the electronic medium.
 14. A novel deck of cards for playing a card game; the deck comprising 180 cards, each card having a face and a value ascribed thereto, the deck being made up of three suits of 59 cards each and 3 wild cards; wherein each suit comprises fifty-six alphabet cards having an individual element of the periodic table and a numerical value respectively and three power cards comprising, one skip-a-turn card, one reverse order of play or letter blank card, and one penalty card.
 15. The deck of cards as claimed in claim 14 wherein the deck of cards are physical cards.
 16. The deck of cards as claimed in claim 14 wherein the deck of cards are an electronic medium, wherein the electronic medium includes; a computer program, a video game console, a mobile application, or any other electronic medium; and/or wherein the electronic medium includes playing the game over the internet in one or more forms of the electronic medium. 